Ground Breaking

Expansion and multi-profit sites set the tone
It was a good month for expanding carwash businesses and gas station carwashes as six new washes entered the market on those terms.

Professional Carwashing & Detailing reminds all new and expanding owners to submit their ground-breaking information to Kate Carr at kcarr@carwash.com.

Helena, MT
A new Conoco Town Pump will open its doors, pumps and carwash in the first week of November.

The Town Pump will include a convenience store, casino, Laser Tech carwash, Subway sandwich shop and more.

The gas station will have 14 pumps with extra-wide aisles and five diesel variations, one of which is a bio-diesel option. The c-store will offer a new coffee program, expanded hot deli and a walk-in beer cave.

Fort Worth, TX
The second Jerry’s Express Car Wash is expected to open this month. Construction on the 4,500 square-foot express exterior carwash began in September.

The express wash will have state-of-the-art equipment throughout its 150-foot-long tunnel and will feature free vacuum stations.

Innovative Developers in Fort Worth is managing development and construction of the 1.6-acre lot. The carwash was designed by Nader Design Group.

The newest addition to the express, exterior-only carwash chain is its fifth location. Future locations are planned for South Natomas and Citrus Heights, also in California.

The company is on track to follow through on its promise to operate seven sites by the end of 2006, and intends to open six more in 2007. Earlier this year Splash & Dash told Professional Car Care Online it is interested in becoming a national chain.

Splash & Dash exterior-only carwashes are priced at $5.99 and $8.99. The washes use all-cloth tunnels.

Humble, TX
Bill Lawrence has opened his ninth Bubbles Car Wash location in the Houston area. The newest wash is the third Bubbles Express location in the Houston area. Five other Bubbles locations are hand washes, and the fourth Bubbles Express Wash is outside the Houston area.

Lawrence and his partners, Clayton Clark and Bill DeArman, decided on a Bubbles Express for this location because average household income, educational level and home ownership statistics in the area are well above the norm.

The newest Bubbles Express celebrated its grand opening by offering free carwashes for the day.

Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Spruceview Motors can finally begin construction on a new carwash and dog wash after it was granted a conditional development permit from the city.

The lot for the business currently lacks water, sanitary and storm water service.

The dealership opened three years ago and plans for the carwash and dog wash have been in the works for a while.

The carwash will feature touchless in-bay automatics.

Tulare, AL
If plans proceed as scheduled, a new tire shop, carwash and gas station will open by March.

Arco AM/PM and Big Brand Tires representatives have already pitched plans to Tulare’s Site Plan Review Committee. The new stores are considered one project.

It will take five months to build the carwash, 24-hour convenience store and eight-pump gas station. The tire store will take about six months.

Construction is expected to begin as soon as plans are given final approval.

Ipswich, MA
Ken Oullette, owner of the new Ipswich Car Wash, hopes to turn rainwater into profit. The soon-to-open wash, which Oullette owns with business partner Walter Sherburne, uses a system that collects rainwater in tanks to be used to wash cars and recharge the nearby wetlands.

The rainwater harvesting system, designed by engineer Larry Graham of Graham Associates, uses impervious surfaces to drain rainwater into 60,000-gallon tanks underneath the washing bays. The system, said to be the first in the U.S., cost in excess of $1.5 million and took two years to design and build.

The in-bay automatic carwash will use 50 to 60 gallons of water on each vehicle, only eight gallons of which will come from the town water supply. If there is period of low rainfall, Ouellette said there is a possibility he might have to rely on more town water.